How The Sims put non-gamers in the top slot

Here's a challenge: name a virtual world where players can act outthe parts of different people in a facsimile of real life. What's itcalled?
Given the hype in recent years, you might be forgiven forsaying Second Life. Or, since it has commanded headlines this week, youmay have pondered Grand Theft Auto and its incredible copy of New YorkCity. But how many would have suggested The Sims?
Last monthElectronic Arts announced that it had sold more than 100m copies of thegroundbreaking franchise, which offers players of all ages a chance toindulge in their own sugary duplicate of life.
Despite itsenviable position as the best-selling PC series of all time, The Simsremains something of an outsider to the gaming community. That's notsomething that troubles the people behind the curtains, however.
"Wedon't worry about respect, or the position of the game in theindustry," says Nancy Smith, president of the Sims label, from herSilicon Valley headquarters. "We know we attract creative people of allages and both genders."
Unprecedented success
While someof the game's sales are doubtless driven by the unending river ofadd-on titles, the numbers point to unprecedented success. Indeed, TheSims and all its spin-offs are so profitable that the game commands itsown label inside EA, the industry's largest publisher, as well as astaff of 350.

The numbers elsewhere are equally impressive. "We've now got 4.5million players who come monthly, and we've had 70m downloads ofplayer-created content," says Smith. "So much of the creativity comesfrom the players - just look at the 100,000 Sims movies posted onYouTube."
Thatsubstantial team and all the resources they have are now being put intoa plethora of new projects, including Sims on Stage (a sort of virtualkaraoke), Sims Carnival (a build-your-own game environment) and TheSims 3, predicted to be the game's most realistic iteration yet.
Thefact that the franchise has spread out in so many directions surpriseseven Rod Humble, the expat Briton who heads up The Sims studio. "If youthink back to when The Sims launched, as a game design it was utterlyinsane," he says. "There was no end, there no win or lose - but itabsolutely fitted with a 'what if' scenario that we all have in ourheads."
Back then, at the turn of the millennium, the project waschampioned by its creator, Will Wright. He has now moved on to anotherproject - the much-anticipated evolution game Spore - but at its heartthe Sims has remained the same. Along the way it has been a core partof the rise of so-called "casual gaming" - typified by Nintendo's Wiiand a plethora of web-based games. Humble quietly disagrees with the"casual" monicker, however, and suggests that there is more going onthan just a widening market.

"I think the 'casual' label is pretty much meaningless now," he says."You've seen a big shift in perception ... it's got to the point nowwhere we're on our own, and we're able to do all sorts of things interms of mass entertainment and themes. A few years ago I don't thinkpeople would have thought about a game where you run a business or havea family."
Reallife, he suggests, is "pretty easy to think about" and allows anybodyto understand and interact with the game. "These aren't the things youusually associate with videogames - they wouldn't be out of place in aTV show."
Therein lies The Sims' greatest selling point - butalso its biggest challenge. The true competitors that it faces are notfrom the videogaming world, but from other forms of mainstreamentertainment - social websites such as Facebook or MySpace, perhaps... or even television itself. "The Sims is played - sometimesobsessively - by people who don't regard themselves as gamers," Humblesays. "It's the same way that people who watch TV don't think ofthemselves as TV-watchers, they are fans of their favourite programme."
Entertainmentmoguls of all stripes know how fickle audiences can be. Whether it'sdropping one social networking service in favour of another, orswitching off their favourite long-running soap opera, past success isno guarantee for the future. And, of course, there is nothing toprevent a competitor coming up with a more enticing offer.
Rewards of risk
Thatis something Humble knows only too well - his last job was at Sony,heading up the successful online roleplaying game EverQuest. Until afew years ago, EQ was the number one name in the genre ... until Worldof Warcraft came along and, in a flash, took over the market.
That'swhy Sims 3 (due for release next year) is crucial and, Humble implies,exactly why his team is trying out so many new ideas while they can.
"Creatively,our success puts us in the position where we can do more. We'veactually become more risky because we've already got this establishedbase to work from," he says. "You're guaranteed that people will lookat it, even it it's a flop."